Week 12 – Personal

Our last week in Zambia has appeared from nowhere and we were not prepared for the stress of packing up the home we had built in Zambia and the goodbyes which followed.

The farewells began with our final visit to Victoria Falls, where once more we were soaked in the mighty spray of the Zambezi River. The beauty of the Falls has really captured my heart, it is a view I could happily take in for hours as the Mosi oa Tunya (which means ‘the smoke that thunders’) is a truly humbling sight.
Clarke (1925) sums up my feelings perfectly by stating that Victoria Falls is “a truly magnificent sight, and one which brings home the tremendous glory of the whole mighty work of Nature, and the comparative insignificance of humanity” (Woods and Woods, 2009, p. 31). The beauty of the Falls is the first of many reasons why I would return to Zambia, hopefully to witness the stark contrast when the water level is low.

Standing at the top of Victoria Falls

The view fromt the 'Boiling Point'

Our farwell dinner with our friend Golden

After our last visit to the Falls, there was no time to think and the goodbyes hit ‘thick and fast’. They began with the children at Lubasi home, moving onto our Jollysboys family, before saying farewell to our group of local friends who have made such an impact on us during our time in Zambia. This was an emotional process, which was dragged out by many of the people returning on the morning of our departure to say goodbye for the second time. I have never experienced anything like this warm African send off and having time to reflect has made me consider “how lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard” after such a short stay in Zambia(Sobieski and Meehan, N.D, cited in Alessandra, 2010, p.160). With this send off, I found my second reason for returning to Zambia – the people.

Our final goodbyes with some friends

 

Getting ready to leave our home

Saying our goodbyes to our Jollyboys family!

Before leaving home, I came across the words of Wiftcarft (N.D), who states that:

A hundred years from now, it will not matter what kind of car I drove, what kind of house I lived in , how much money I had in the bank... but the world may be a better place because I made a difference in the life of a child.

                                                                                             (Moskal and Keneman, 2011, vii).

During my time in Zambia, these words have returned to me on a number of occasions due to the sights I have seen both in a personal and professional setting. I believe that throughout my time here I was only able to scratch the surface of achieving the above and it was with this realisation that I decided I would definitely be returning to my second home here in Zambia, Africa. As I now feel very passionate about improving the education of children who are not as blessed as I was during my learning experience.

In recent years I have embraced the motto of a dear – Neil – who believed that ‘Life is an Adventure!’.  Throughout this international experience, I have had many personal, professional and cultural adventures, causing positive growth in myself – which I know will greatly aid me in my profession - and I can honestly say that “I am not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world” (RRadmacher, N.D, cited in Mondloch, 2005, p. i).

References

Alessandra, F. (2010) The Six: A Story about Boys, Laughter, and a Lifelong Friendship, Indianapolis, Dog Ear Publishing.

Mondloch, K (2005) Flight of the Osprey : A journey of Renewa, Lincoln, iUniverse.

Moskal, M and Keneman, A (2011) Literacy Leadership to Suppor Reading Improvement: Intervention Programs and Balanced Instruction, New York, Guilford Publications.

Woods, M and Woods, M. (2009) Seven Nature Wonders of Africa, Minneapolis, Twenty-First Century Books.